As part of a rebranding of the Baby Bells in the mid-1990s, all of Bell Atlantic's operating companies assumed the holding company's name. In 1997, Bell Atlantic expanded into New York and the New England states by merging with fellow Baby Bell NYNEX. Although Bell Atlantic was the surviving company name, the merged company moved its headquarters from Philadelphia to NYNEX's old headquarters in New York City. In 2000, Bell Atlantic acquired GTE, which operated telecommunications companies across most of the rest of the country that was not already in Bell Atlantic's footprint. Bell Atlantic, the surviving entity, changed its name to "Verizon", a portmanteau of veritas (Latin for "truth") and horizon.[9]

In 2015, Verizon expanded its business into content ownership by acquiring AOL,[10][11] and two years later it acquired Yahoo!. AOL and Yahoo were amalgamated into a new division named Oath Inc.

As of 2016[update], Verizon is one of three remaining companies that had their roots in the former Baby Bells. The other two, like Verizon, exist as a result of mergers among fellow former Baby Bell members. SBC Communications, bought out the Bells' former parent AT&T Corporation, and assumed the AT&T name. CenturyLink was formed initially in 2011 by the acquisition of Qwest (formerly named US West).

Verizon's subsidiary Verizon Wireless is the largest U.S. wireless communications service provider as of September 2014[update], with 147 million mobile customers.[12] And as of 2017, Verizon is the only publicly-traded telecommunications company to have two stock listings in its home country, both the NYSE (principal) and NASDAQ (secondary).[13] As of 2017, it is also the second largest telecommunications company by revenue after AT&T.[14]

Bell Atlantic Corporation was created as one of the original Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) in 1984, during the breakup of the Bell System.[15][16] Bell Atlantic's original roster of operating companies included:

Bell Atlantic originally operated in the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia, as well as Washington, DC.[19]

In 1996, CEO and Chairman Raymond W. Smith orchestrated Bell Atlantic's merger with NYNEX.[21] When it merged, it moved its corporate headquarters from Philadelphia to New York City.[21] NYNEX was consolidated into this name by 1997.[22]

Bell Atlantic changed its name to Verizon Communications in June 2000 when the Federal Communications Commission approved a US$64.7 billion acquisition of telephone company GTE, nearly two years after the deal was proposed in July 1998.[23] The approval came with 25 stipulations to preserve competition between local phone carriers, including investing in new markets and broadband technologies.[23]
The new entity was headed by co-CEOs Charles Lee, formerly the CEO of GTE, and Bell Atlantic CEO Ivan Seidenberg.[23]

Upon the acquisition, Verizon became the largest local telephone company in the United States, operating 63 million telephone lines in 40 states.[24] The company also inherited 25 million mobile phone customers.[24] Additionally, Verizon offered internet services and long-distance calling in New York, before expanding long-distance operations to other states.[23][25]

The name Verizon derives from the combination of the words veritas, Latin for truth, and horizon.[26] The name was chosen from 8,500 candidates and the company spent $300 million on marketing the new brand.[26][27]

Two months before the FCC gave final approval on the formation of Verizon Communications, Bell Atlantic formed Verizon Wireless in a joint venture with the British telecommunications company Vodafone in April 2000.[27][28][29] The companies established Verizon Wireless as its own business operated by Bell Atlantic, which owned 55% of the venture.[28] Vodafone retained 45% of the company.[28] The deal was valued at approximately $70 billion and created a mobile carrier with 23 million customers.[27][28] Verizon Wireless merged Bell Atlantic's wireless network, Vodafone's AirTouch and PrimeCo holdings, and the wireless division of GTE.[28][30][31] Due to its size, Verizon Wireless was able to offer national coverage at competitive rates, giving it an advantage over regional providers typical of the time.[27]

During its first operational year, Verizon Wireless released Mobile Web, an Internet service that allowed customers to access partner sites such as E*Trade, ABC News, ESPN, Amazon.com, Ticketmaster and MSN,[29] as well as the "New Every Two" program, which gave customers a free phone with every two-year service contract.[32] In another partnership with MSN in 2002, Verizon Wireless launched the mobile content service "VZW with MSN" and a phone that utilized the Microsoft Windowsoperating system.[33]

In August 2000, approximately 85,000 Verizon workers went on an 18-day labor strike after their union contracts expired.[34][35] The strike affected quarterly revenues,[36] resulting in Verizon Wireless' postponement of the company's IPO[36] (the IPO was ultimately cancelled in 2003, because the company no longer needed to raise revenue for Verizon Wireless due to increased profits[37]
), and created a backlog of repairs.[35]
Verizon launched 3G service in 2002, which doubled the Internet speeds of the time to 144kb a second.[38] In August 2002, Verizon began offering local, long-distance, and mobile calling, as well as Internet service, in a bundle. It was initially only available to customers in New York and Massachusetts.[25]

In June 2003, Verizon Wireless backed an FCC-issued portability requirement that permitted consumers to take their phone numbers with them across carriers.[39] The company gained 1.5 million new subscribers the following quarter, partially due to the rule change.[40] The following year, in April 2004, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added Verizon Communications to its stock market index.[41] Verizon replaced telecom competitor AT&T, which had been a part of the index since the Great Depression.[41]

On December 22, 2004, mail servers at Verizon.net were configured not to accept connections from Europe, by default, in an attempt to reduce spam email that was originating from the region. Individual domains would only be unblocked upon request.[42]

Verizon began negotiations to purchase long distance carrier MCI in 2005. MCI accepted the company's initial $6.75 billion offer in February 2005, but then received a higher offer from Qwest Communications. Verizon increased its bid to $7.6 billion (or $23.50 a share), which MCI accepted on March 29, 2005.[46] The acquisition gave the company access to MCI's one million corporate clients and international holdings, expanding Verizon's presence into global markets.[46][47] As a result, Verizon Business was established as a new division to serve the company's business and government customers.[48] The FCC approved the deal on November 5, 2005, valuing it at $8.5 billion.[49] Verizon's 2006 revenues rose by as much as 20% following the purchase.[50]

In May 2006, USA Today reported that Verizon, as well as AT&T and BellSouth, had given the National Security Agencylandline phone records following the September 11 attacks.[51][52] That same month, a $50 billion lawsuit was filed by two lawyers on behalf of all Verizon subscribers for privacy violations and to prevent the company from releasing additional records without consent or warrant.[51][52] Protesters staged the National Day of Out(R)age due in part to the controversy.[53] Verizon stated in 2007 that the company fulfilled only "lawful demands" for information,[54] though also acknowledged surrendering customer information to government agencies without court orders or warrants 720 times between 2005 and 2007.[55]

Verizon won a lawsuit against Vonage in March 2007 for patent infringement. The three patents named were filed by Bell Atlantic in 1997 and relate to the conversion of IP addresses into phone numbers, a key technology of Vonage's business.[56] The company was awarded US$58 million in damages and future royalties.[56] Vonage later lost an appeal and was ordered to pay Verizon $120 million.[57]

In May 2007, Verizon acquired Cybertrust, a privately held provider of global information security services.[58]

Verizon Wireless reversed a controversial decision in September 2007 to deny NARAL Pro-Choice America a short code through which the organization could text consumers who had signed up for messaging from the group. They had initially refused the group access to a code by reserving the right to block "controversial or unsavory" messages.[59]

In November 2007, Verizon opened its networks for the first time to third party apps and devices,[60] a decision that allowed it to participate in the FCC's 2008 700 MHz auction of "open access" spectrum.[60][61] During that auction, the company bid $9.4 billion and won the bulk of national and local licenses for airwaves reaching approximately 469 million people.[61][62] Verizon utilized the increased spectrum for its 4G service.[61]

Verizon Wireless purchased wireless carrier Alltel for $28.1 billion in June 2008. The acquisition included 13 million customers, which allowed Verizon Wireless to surpass AT&T in number of customers and reach new markets in rural areas.[63]

In October 2010, Verizon Wireless paid $77.8 million in refunds and FCC penalties for overcharging 15 million customers for data services. The company stated the overcharges were accidental and only amounted to a few dollars per customer.[64][65]

On February 4, 2010, 4chan started receiving reports from Verizon Wireless customers that they were having difficulties accessing the site's image boards. 4chan administrators found that only traffic on port 80 to the boards.4chan.org domain was affected, leading them to believe that the block was intentional. On February 7, 2010, Verizon Wireless confirmed that 4chan.org was "explicitly blocked"[66] after Verizon's security and external experts detected sweep attacks coming from an IP address associated with the 4chan network. Traffic was restored several days later.[67]

Between 2005 and 2010, Verizon divested wireline operations in several states in order to focus on its wireless, Fios internet and Fios TV businesses.[50] It sold 700,000 lines in Hawaii in 2005,[50][71] and spun off lines in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont in January 2007 that were then purchased by FairPoint Communications for $2.72 billion.[50] Verizon also shed its telephone directory business in 2006.[72]

In May 2009, the company spun off wirelines in Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin into a company that then merged with Frontier Communications in a deal valued at $8.6 billion.[73][74] In 2016, Verizon sold its wireline operations in Texas, Florida, and California to Frontier.[75]

In December 2011, the non-partisan organization Public Campaign criticized Verizon for its tax avoidance procedures after it spent $52.34 million on lobbying while collecting $951 million in tax rebates between 2008 and 2010 and making a profit of $32.5 billion. The same report also criticized Verizon for increasing executive pay by 167% in 2010 for its top five executives while laying off 21,308 workers between 2008 and 2010.[78] However, in its Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 24, 2012, Verizon reported having paid more than $11.1 billion in taxes (including income, employment and property taxes) from 2009 to 2011. In addition, the company reported in the 10-K that most of the drop in employment since 2008 was due to a voluntary retirement offer.[79]

In June 2012, as part of its strategy to expand into new growth areas in its wireless business, Verizon purchased Hughes Telematics—a company that produces wireless features for automobiles—for $612 million.[80] Also in June 2012, Verizon's E-911 service failed in the aftermath of the June 2012 derecho storm in several northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., with some problems lasting several days.[81] The FCC conducted an investigation[81] and in January 2013 released a report detailing the problems that led to the failure. Verizon reported that it had already addressed or was addressing a number of the issues related to the FCC report, including the causes of generator failures, conducting audits of backup systems and making its monitoring systems less centralized,[82] although the FCC indicated that Verizon still needed to make additional improvements.[83]

In July 2012, the FCC ruled that Verizon must stop charging users an added fee for using 4G smartphones and tablets as Wi-Fi hotspots (known as "tethering"). Verizon had been charging its customers, even those with "unlimited" plans, $20 per month for tethering. As part of the settlement, Verizon made a voluntary payment of $1.25 million to the U.S. Treasury.[84]

In September 2013, Verizon purchased the 45% stake in Verizon Wireless owned by Vodafone for $130 billion.[90] The deal closed on February 21, 2014, becoming the third largest corporate deal ever signed, giving Verizon Communications sole ownership of Verizon Wireless.[91]

On January 22, 2014 the Wall Street Journal reported that Verizon received more than 1,000 requests for information about its subscribers on national security grounds via National Security Letters. In total, Verizon received 321,545 requests from federal, state and local law enforcement for U.S. customer information.[95] In May 2015, Verizon agreed to pay $90 million "to settle federal and state investigations into allegations mobile customers were improperly billed for premium text messages."[96]

In late-October 2014, Verizon Wireless launched SugarString, a technology news website. The publication attracted controversy after it was reported that its writers were forbidden from publishing articles related to net neutrality or domestic surveillance. Although Verizon denied that this was the case, the site (described as being a pilot project) was shuttered in December.[97][98]

In August 2015, Verizon launched Hum, a service and device offering vehicle diagnostic and monitoring tools for vehicles.[99] On August 1, 2016, Verizon announced its acquisition of Fleetmatics, a fleet telematics system company in Dublin, Ireland, for $2.4 billion, to build products that it offers to enterprises for logistics and mobile workforces.[100] On September 12, 2016, Verizon announced its acquisition of Sensity, a startup for LED sensors, in an effort to bolster its IoT portfolio.[101]

In October 2016, Verizon was accused by Communications Workers of America of deliberately refusing to maintain its copper telephone service. The organization released internal memos and other documents stating that Verizon workers in Pennsylvania were being instructed to, in areas with network problems, migrate voice-only customers to VoiceLink—a system that delivers telephone service over the Verizon Wireless network, and not to repair the copper lines. VoiceLink has limitations, including incompatibility with services or devices that require the transmission of data over the telephone line, and a dependency on a battery backup in case of power failure. The memo warned that technicians who do not follow this procedure would be subject to "disciplinary action up to and including dismissal". A Verizon spokesperson responded to the allegations, stating that the company's top priority was to restore service to customers as quickly as possible, and that VoiceLink was a means of doing so in the event that larger repairs have to be done to the infrastructure. The spokesperson stated that it was "hard to argue with disciplining someone who intentionally leaves a customer without service".[102][103]

In November 2016, Verizon acquired mapping startup SocialRadar; its technology will be integrated with MapQuest.[104]

On March 13, 2017, Verizon was sued by New York City for violating its cable franchise agreement, which required the provider to pass a fiberoptic network to all households in the city by June 30, 2014. Verizon disputed the claims, citing landlords not granting permission to install the equipment on their properties, and an understanding with the government that the fiber network would follow the same routes as its copper lines, and did not necessarily mean it would have to pass the lines in front of every property.[106]

On May 12, 2015, Verizon announced they would acquire AOL at $50 per share, for a deal valued around $4.4 billion.[111][112] The following year, Verizon announced that it would acquire the core internet business of Yahoo for $4.83 billion.[113][114][115] Following the completion of the acquisitions, Verizon created a new division called Oath, which includes the AOL and Yahoo brands.[116] The sale did not include Yahoo's stakes in Alibaba Group and Yahoo! Japan.[117][118]

On March 16, 2017, Verizon announced that it would discontinue the e-mail services provided for its internet subscribers, and migrate them to AOL Mail.[119]

On May 23, 2017, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam confirmed the company's plan to launch a streaming TV service.[120] The integrated AOL-Yahoo operation, housed under the newly created Oath division, will be organized around key content-based pillars.[121]

In a deal which officially closed on June 13, 2017, Yahoo! shareholders approved the sale of some of the company's internet assets to Verizon for $4.48 billion.[122]

For the fiscal year 2017, Verizon reported earnings of US$30.101 billion, with an annual revenue of US$126.034 billion, an increase of 0.04% over the previous fiscal cycle. Verizon's shares traded at over $45 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at over US$229.1 billion in October 2018.[123] As of 2018, Verizon is ranked #16 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.[124]

The "Can you hear me now?" campaign, which was created for the newly formed Verizon Wireless, started running in 2001 and featured actor Paul Marcarelli in the role of "Test Man," a character based on a Verizon network tester who travels the country asking "Can you hear me now?".[125][126][127] The campaign, originally conceived by the agency Bozell in New York, ran from early 2001 to September 2010.[128][129] Data from the technology tracking firm The Yankee Group shows that, in the early years of the campaign, net customers grew 10% to 32.5 million in 2002 and 15% more to 37.5 million in 2003. In addition, customer turnover dropped to 1.8% in 2001, down from 2.5% in 2000.[127] In 2011, Marcarelli parted ways with Verizon and is now a spokesperson for Sprint.[130]

The "There's a map for that" campaign was launched in late 2009. It was designed as a parody of AT&T's "There's an app for that" adverts. The ads depicted a side-by-side comparison of Verizon and AT&T network coverage maps.[131] AT&T filed a lawsuit in Atlanta federal court early in November 2009, claiming that the coverage maps being used in the ads were misleading.[132] The suit was dropped later that month in conjunction with Verizon dropping a similar suit against AT&T.[131]

In January 2013, Verizon launched the "Powerful Answers" campaign designed by agency McGarryBowen.[135] The campaign centered around a contest in which $10 million in prizes was offered to individuals for finding solutions to "the world's biggest challenges" by making use of Verizon's cloud, broadband, and wireless networks.[136][137] Winners of the inaugural competition were announced at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show.[136] Israel-based TinyTap won the education category, Smart Vision Labs of Newport, Rhode Island won in the healthcare category, and Mosaic Inc. of Oakland, California won in the sustainability category.[136]

Verizon launched its "Inspire Her Mind" ad in June 2014. The ad, created by the agency AKQA, was designed to encourage girls' interest in science, technology, engineering and math.[138] It aimed to address findings from the National Science Foundation, whose research showed that 66 percent of fourth-grade girls said they like science and math, yet only 18 percent of college students in engineering and math are women.[139][140]

Verizon launched its Flipside Stories ad campaign in February 2015 featuring the #NeverSettle hashtag. The ads show dramatized "testimonials" of people with and without Verizon Wireless or Verizon Fios services.[141][142][143]

Verizon launched its Humanability campaign in 2017.[145][146] The company aimed for the ads to showcase to consumers and investors its diversification of revenue sources and technology beyond smartphones. These include online advertising, data collection, Internet of Things, smart cities, telematics, and media.[145][146]

As of August 1, 2018:
Hans Vestberg, CEO
Ronan Dunne,[148] Group President of Verizon Wireless

In June 2018, Verizon announced Hans Vestberg, who in 2016 was fired as CEO of Ericsson,[149] would become the next Verizon CEO on August 1.[150]
McAdam will continue as chairman of the board of directors, though only in a non-executive capacity after the end of 2018.

The Verizon Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications, donating about $70 million per year to nonprofit organizations, with a focus on education, domestic violence prevention, and energy management.[151] Verizon's educational initiatives have focused on STEM fields,[152] including: a national competition for students to develop mobile application concepts;[152] the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program, providing professional development for teachers in underserved areas;[153] and providing students with wireless hardware and services as part of President Obama's ConnectED program.[154] The company also runs HopeLine, which has provided mobile phones to approximately 180,000 victims of domestic violence,[155][156] and a program that offers grants for victims of domestic violence to start or grow home-based businesses.[157] As part of an initiative to reduce the company's carbon intensity metrics by 50 percent by 2020, Verizon announced planned investment in solar panels and natural gas fuel cells at its facilities.[158] The increased capacity would make Verizon the leading solar power producer among U.S. communications companies.[159]

According to Google Project Zero researcher Tavis Ormandy Verizon applies a simplistic certification methodology to give its "Excellence in Information Security Testing" award, e.g. to Comodo Group. It focuses on GUI functions instead of testing security relevant features. Not detected were Chromodo browser disabling of the same-origin policy, a VNC delivered with a default of weak authentication, not enabling address space layout randomization (ASLR) when scanning, and using access control lists (ACLs) throughout its product.[160]

Verizon and Comcast have been actively lobbying for current changes in the FCC's regulations that require internet service providers to offer all content at one internet speed regardless of the type of content since the early 2000s. In 2014, Verizon unsuccessfully sued the FCC for these powers.[161] Verizon has admitted to throttling content of its competitors.[162]

In January 2007, Verizon secured exclusive marketing and promotional rights with the National Hockey League.[164] The deal was extended for another three years in 2012 and included new provisions for the league to provide exclusive content through Verizon's GameCenter app.[165]

In late 2010, Verizon Communications joined with Vodafone Group in a joint partnership to replace Sprint as the official wireless telecommunications partner of the National Football League.[168] The four-year deal was estimated at $720 million. In June 2013, Verizon announced a four-year extension with the NFL in a deal reportedly valued at $1 billion. The new agreement gave Verizon the right to stream every NFL regular-season and playoff game.[169]

Verizon has been the title sponsor of entertainment amphitheaters in locations throughout the United States, including four individually referred to as the "Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre": in Irvine, California;[173] Maryland Heights, Missouri;[174] Selma, Texas;[175] and Alpharetta, Georgia.[176]